Magazines Archives - 2007 November

China’s secondary cities picking up credit-card use
Story 9

CHINESE consumers are becoming more adapted to owning credit cards, with Tier II cities such as Xiamen catching up with Tier I cities. According to a study released by Nielsen China, four out of 10 Xiamen consumers, aged 18-24, own at least one credit card, while over 50% of cardholders own two or more cards.

Said Bega Ng, the group’s director of financial services research in China: “Today’s Chinese consumer is clearly not interested in saving for a rainy day, as may have been the case in their parent’s generation.

Chinese consumers have been adopting western habits and attitudes in almost every way, including their saving and spending habits. For Chinese consumers in their 20s, spending tomorrow’s cash to fund today’s needs is a big new trend.”

Although cash remains a predominant method of payment, the study noted that consumers enjoyed the convenience in using their credit cards, as opposed to carrying around stacks of money. Xiamen consumers have also made use of other features of credit cards, such as cash advance and bill repayment on installment basis. Noting the shift in the credit-card market in China over the past few years, Ng said: “Consumers will also benefit from increasingly intense competition among local and foreign banks, who are beefing up their promotional efforts to get their credit cards into the wallets of the millions of Chinese big spenders.”